Toy Fair 2014 Archives - Page 3 of 4

Toy Fair 2014: G.I. JOE Continues the Fight Against Cobra as a Toys R Us Exclusive

After a resurgence with their 25th Anniversary line, Hasbo’s G.I. JOE brand has taken a beating the past five years. This is thanks in a big way to lackluster performance of both G.I. JOE movies. Rise of Cobra in 2009 was considered enough of a dud (despite clearing over $300MM worldwide box office) to delay Retaliation to 2013, wreaking havoc in a line that was already heavily ordered at retail. Without the backing of the sequel at retail, the line sputtered and died – and even though Retaliation surpassed its predecessor, the damage was done.

This year, Hasbro has managed to extend the life of the brand by going the retailer exclusive route with Toys R Us. I’m glad to see the line continue, but it’s a tough road ahead. Retaliation did well enough to warrant another sequel from Paramount. And while a director and writer have been attached, no release date has been set – how long the JOE brand can maintain itself in absence of TV or movie support has yet to be seen.

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Toy Fair 2014: LEGO Reveals Guardians of the Galaxy and Ghostbusters Sets

One of my biggest disappointments being snowed out of Toy Fair this year is missing the LEGO showroom. I’ve been a lifelong fan of the building sets, and fell pretty hard for their foray into licensed products many years ago with Star Wars LEGO sets. With this year’s Toy Fair showing, LEGO has extended their Marvel license to include Guardians of the Galaxy, and added a fan favorite with a new Ghostbusters set.

While we can expect three sets of GotG as part of the growing LEGO Marvel license, Ghostbusters will likely be limited to the ECTO-1 set, as it’s a product of LEGO’s CUUSOO program (where users submit ideas to be potentially turned into LEGO sets), like last year’s Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine.

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Toy Fair 2014: Big Things Coming for Star Wars Black Series 6-Inchers

In the past, I’d referred to Hasbro’s Star Wars Black Series (the 6-inchers) as “Star Wars Legends” insofar as the brand’s first foray into the 6-inch scale has taken strong cues from the Marvel line in terms of its sculpt and articulation. But despite an assumed softness in the age-old 3.75-inch scale that I think prompted the new line, we shouldn’t forget that the brand is more like the Empire, able to take grab shelf space and subvert it to its will.

So while Marvel Legends relies on programs like Build-a-Figure to sweeten the deal for consumers and retailers, Star Wars needs no such enticements. The “big” reveal for this Toy Fair is the introduction of the Black Series Deluxe line extension, offering a vehicle for Hasbro to bring higher price point items into the retail mix. If this were Marvel, we’d have a Build-a-Jabba; the Star Wars brand allows for a shelf-grab for more of your collector dollars.

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Toy Fair 2014: Hasbro Marvel Legends Report

This year I find myself in the rather odd position of reporting on Toy Fair without actually being there. A casualty of the winter storms Pax and Quintus, I’m warm on the west coast but missing the fun of seeing the figures up close and personal. It’s the first time being on the sidelines since I started covering Toy Fair back in the heyday of Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends run in 2005.

In many ways we’re seeing Hasbro’s (second) run of Marvel Legends entering similar territory. Back then, Toy Biz was making waves with the Marvel Legends Sentinel wave. And yet, macroeconomic factors were causing big changes in the industry, and the next year turned out to be Toy Biz’s swan song, with the announcement that they had licensed the Marvel toy lines to Hasbro. Those same factors – rising costs of raw materials and labor, consolidation of retailers – are still in play today for Hasbro. Rather than shutter the Legends line again, Hasbro’s Marvel team announced a shift in branding strategy at SDCC last year, and with their Toy Fair showing, we’re seeing how that plays out in the Marvel Legends line.

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Toy Fair 2014: Batman: The Animated Series Headlines New Reveals for DC Collectibles

The big show hasn’t officially started, but the toy companies are already ahead of the game. With a reveal in USA Today and an item in the full line-up of their Toy Fair press release, DC Collectibles announced they would be turning to one of the most beloved properties in the DC animated universe for a set of new toy lines. Bruce Timm’s Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures will be the design source for 6-inch figures. While these will be in an animated style, it looks like DCC will be incorporating more than the 5 points of articulation you might expect.

Limited runs of animated figures are not unprecedented (DCC produced figures for 2007’s Superman / Doomsday animated movie), but with 6 seasons of shows and numerous animated movies, the Timm-verse could provide as deep a character set as DCC’s foray into Blackest Night, for example.

The rest of the Toy Fair line-up stays closer to DC Collectibles’ wheelhouse. There’s more New 52 and Designer Series (this time Greg Capullo) on the way, as well as lines tied to popular DC comic book events, like Infinite Crisis and Son of Batman.

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